1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and method for initializing an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a device and method of controlling the initialization of an image forming apparatus using a NAND flash memory from which a boot program and various control programs are sequentially read to prepare for operation.
2. Related Art
Advances in digital technology have led to the development of image forming apparatuses including as digital multi-functional machines in which a printer, a facsimile, a scanner, and a copier are combined. However, these digital multi-functional machines require complex circuit configurations and control devices, and increase the size of programs for controlling various functions to many mega bytes, thereby increasing hardware costs.
Typically, in such image forming apparatuses, programs are stored in a NOR flash memory, and font data for forming printed characters are stored in a separate mask ROM. However, as the image forming apparatuses become more complex and large in size, the size of programs also becomes large and complex. As a result, many hardware costs are needed to implement a system using the NOR flash memory, and a large number of parts are needed to implement a system using the mask ROM which is expensive and requires a large number of control signals. In addition, complex patterns must also be formed on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) to present a complex data bus for input and output of data, an address bus signal, and various control signals. Thus, component costs increase, PCBs become larger, and image forming apparatuses become more vulnerable to various types of noise due to the formation of a complex data bus and address bus.
Recently, in order to solve these shortcomings, there has been proposed a technique for executing programs by using an NOR flash memory and storing data in an NAND flash memory instead of the mask ROM, which is expensive and requires for a large number of control signals. However, an expensive NOR memory is still required to accommodate an ever-increasing number of system control programs despite the replacement of the mask ROM with the NAND flash memory for storing data.
Moreover, as much as 10 MB of data is still required for fonts necessary for the formation of various printed characters. Therefore, when programs are stored in the NAND flash memory, as much as 10 MB of data stored in the NAND flash memory must be copied to a RAM memory before the programs are executed for code interpretation. As a result, a significant amount of time is still required for an image forming apparatus to interpret program codes to complete the preparation for operation, such as data reception.